Missouri Legislators To Pre-File 2022 Sports Betting Bills

• The pre-filing period for the 2022 legislative period begins on Wednesday meaning that the bills will likely be read and discussed in the spring legislative session.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Three state legislators are planning on pre-filing legislation on Wednesday that would legalize sports betting in Missouri.

Since the Supreme Court’s repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (commonly known as PASPA), Missouri Senator Denny Hoskins, a Republican representing west-central Missouri, has been looking to legalize sportsbooks in Missouri.

“I wish it was as simple as ‘hey you want to bet on sports, then you just bet on sports,’” said Hoskins. “Obviously when you look at the big picture, that’s what we’re trying to do, but a lot of the devil is in the details.”

This is not the first time Hoskins has attempted to legalize sports betting in Missouri, though his previous efforts have failed to cross the finish line.

“Some of the issues that we’ve had in the past as far as royalty fees and tax rate and things like that we’ve been working on with many of the stakeholders involved,” said Hoskins.

Hoskins is hardly the only Missouri lawmaker that views creating a legal sports betting industry as a priority.

“We need to do something,” said Rep. Dan Shaul, a Republican representative of Jefferson County. “People in Missouri want to be able to bet on sports.”

Hoskins’ plan would bring in an estimated minimum of $20 million in additional revenue to Missouri – something Missouri, which ranks within the bottom ten in the U.S. in yearly education spending, could definitely benefit from.

Shaul thinks Missouri could be home to one of the most robust sports betting industries in the country if all goes according to plan.

“We’ll take legalized betting and also the video lottery terminals and add those together and deal with both issues at one time,” “do you realize that we could be making on the video lottery terminals and the sports gaming we could bring in $400 million per year on taxes.”

Of course, it is very likely that the plans will receive some resistance from sports betting opponents; however, both Hoskins and Shaul point to the unregulated nature of the current market as a danger to constituents, who will take part in the activity regardless of its legality.

“Right now we are the wild wild west and people are doing their own thing,” said Shaul. “It’s time that we as legislators need to step up and do something.”

Senator Tony Luetkemeyer, the Republican Majority Caucus Whip, also plans to file his own sports betting bill, though he has not made any details of the potential bill available to the public or press.

The pre-filing period for the spring legislative session began Wednesday.

News tags: Dan Shaul | Denny Hoskins | Jefferson County | Missouri | PASPA | Tony Luetkemeyer